The Journées du Patrimoine is a must-attend event in September in Paris and the Ile-de-France region. This Europe-wide cultural event is a not-to-be-missed cultural bonanza! The concept? Over the course of a weekend, usually the third in September, museums, monuments, castles, churches and other places usually closed to the public reveal their secrets through free visits and original activities. It's a great way to rediscover our heritage in a different way, and a rare opportunity to enjoy a weekend marathon of cultural excursions.
For some, the Journées du Patrimoine also offer a chance to set out in search of lesser-known heritage, especially in Île-de-France. Yes, the Paris region is brimming with patrimonial treasures to discover, notably in the Hauts-de-Seine! Located in the department 92, within reach of Navigo, the city of Bourg-la-Reine is one of the spots where you could pause to enjoy a broad programme that could keep you occupied all day long! The rendezvous is set for September 19 and 20, 2026 to plunge you into the heart of the heritage of this remarkable town.
This air-raid shelter in the Paris region will be open to visitors for the 2026 Heritage Days.
Heritage Days are back in the Île-de-France region, and for the occasion an air-raid shelter dating from World War II will be open to visitors in an exceptional visit over the weekend of 19–20 September 2026. [Read more]
Heritage Days 2026 at Bourg-la-Reine's Municipal Technical Center
I can’t translate anything because the provided snippet has only a placeholder tag (Aucun événement annoncé à ce jour, le programme est mis à jour en fonction des annonces officielles.) and no French text. If you share the actual French passage, I’ll translate it into natural, idiomatic English in a journalistically adapted style, keeping the HTML tags intact. (Category: Heritage Days)European Heritage Days 2026 at the Dalpayrat Collection in Bourg-la-Reine
A tour of Pierre-Adrien Dalpayrat's ceramic collection
The distinctive feature of Pierre-Adrien Dalpayrat is that he developed, in his Bourg-la-Reine workshop, a unique color: the famous “Dalpayrat Red.” Showcased in the house where he lived, the Art Nouveau–inspired flame-tempered stoneware and the polychrome earthenware inherited from the 18th century bear witness to a traditional know-how: ceramics, dating back to the Neolithic era!
A permanent exhibition accompanies the visit, tracing the influence of Art Nouveau on his work, the ingenuity of his shapes, his mastery of materials, the development of “Dalpayrat Red,” and Bourg-la-Reine’s ceramic tradition.
Participation guidelines: Free admission, subject to availability - Free | No reservation required
Hours: Saturday, September 19, 2026 — 10:00–12:00, 14:00–18:00 | Sunday, September 20, 2026 — 10:00–12:00, 14:00–18:00
Heritage Days 2026 at Bourg-la-Reine’s Faience School
Aucun événement annoncé à ce jour, le programme est mis à jour en fonction des annonces officielles.
Heritage Days 2026 at the Joséphine Baker Space in Bourg-la-Reine
Aucun événement annoncé à ce jour, le programme est mis à jour en fonction des annonces officielles.
Heritage Days 2026 at the François Villon Media Library in Bourg-la-Reine
Exhibition "Writing with Light"
From Greek phôs, light, and graphê, writing, the word photography literally means “writing with light,” a definition that gives its name to the exhibition displayed on the façade of the Médiathèque, facing Boulevard Carnot, open 24/7, until October 9.
The exhibition encapsulates the entire history of photography and its processes—from a technique to an outcome. The technique arises from physical observations and later optical and chemical innovations; the outcome is the precise balance of light used to create an image. From chemistry to digital sensors, the challenge remains to capture, adjust, and interpret light.
Participation conditions: Free | No reservation required
Schedule: Saturday 19 September 2026, 00:00–23:00 | Sunday 20 September 2026, 00:00–23:00
Exhibition “Writing with Light: The Journeys of a Photographer — Robert Pichard, 1931–2020”
Afghanistan, Mali, Yemen, China, Russia, Greenland, Mongolia, Israel, Myanmar, and more — these are among the countries Robert Pichard has traversed, and they echo today in the headlines. His photographs, from composition to subject, share a humanist thread: a distinction between remembered memory and memories gathered to be shared.
Based in Bourg-la-Reine and a trained engineer, Robert Pichard roamed more than fifty countries between 1957 and 2014, photographing each one. His journeys are preserved in an impressive collection of nearly 30,000 slides, now housed by the Cael association, which he led for decades and where he ran the photography workshop.
Examining the Pichard archive reveals an underlying interconnection: across his experiences, his images and his stops seem shaped as much by the quest for travel itself as by his mature photography practice. His heightened attention to reality, to the moment lived, defines his identity and binds each journey together. More than that, his photos embody a pathway devoted to memory. From this fusion of subjects and techniques emerges an invaluable testimony of what was and what can never return: the material trace of a history already written, and an inheritance we still carry.
Participation requirements: Free | No reservation required
Hours: Saturday, September 19, 2026 — 10:00–19:00 | Sunday, September 20, 2026 — 14:00–18:00
Explore Bourg-la-Reine's heritage with Pokémon by your side
Join Pokémon GO players as you uncover Bourg-la-Reine’s landmark spots.
A guided tour led by an official ambassador from the game's publisher, accompanied by a librarian from the Mediatheque.
Prizes up for grabs at the end of the stroll!
Participation terms: Free | No reservation required
Schedule: Saturday, September 19, 2026 — 2:30 PM to 4:30 PM
Heritage Days 2026 at Villa Saint-Cyr in Bourg-la-Reine
Exhibition “Writing with Light: The Painted Work of Sarah Jérôme”
Photography, spreading through the mid-19th century, upended how we represent the world and access it, shaking up the traditional role of painting as a realist expression. Format, immediacy, and light forged new aesthetic canons. While assimilating these shifts, the visual arts responded with a more sensory approach, conveying feelings and colorful imaginaries. That precise tension is at the heart of this exhibition dedicated to Sarah Jérôme.
Created with a technique where traces and erasures are part of the creative process, Sarah Jérôme’s paintings burst with vibrant, bubbling colors and are executed in oil on a thick layer of translucent ground. Her artistic approach intensifies the treatment of light and the capture of fleeting moments.
Sarah Jérôme was born in 1979 in Rennes. She lives and works in Montreuil. A graduate of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Danse in Paris, she continued her training at the Opéra National de Lyon. Her desire to push the exploration of form and content further led her to the Beaux-Arts de Paris, where she refined her practice in visual arts.
This eclectic path has enriched her artistic approach, marked by a rich yet nuanced sensitivity at the crossroads of dance and the visual arts. Today she champions a figurative, introspective practice through painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, and performance.
Sarah Jérôme’s work, regularly shown in France and around the world, stands out for its capacity to evoke deep emotions and to blur the lines between dream and reality.
Executed in a mode where traces and erasures are part of the creative process, witnesses to the artist’s physical engagement with her work, her vibrant, bubbling paintings are oil on a thick translucent layer. Her ceramic sculptures extend her investigations into matter and the human form.
Sarah Jérôme’s work has been shown at a number of institutions and galleries, including Château de Maisons-Laffitte, Musée Cognacq-Jay, À cent mètres du centre du monde (Perpignan), Espace d’art contemporain André Malraux (Colmar), Fondation Espace Écureuil (Toulouse), Centre d’art contemporain Montreuil, Cathédrale de Troyes, Projektraum Ventilator (Berlin), Espace Pierre Cardin, Arthotèque d’Annecy, La Chaufferie (Lyon), Galerie C (Neuchâtel), Lyles & King (New York), Prometeo Gallery (Milan), Doppelgaenger (Bari), Galerie Sabine Vazieux, Galerie Au Cube, H Gallery, Museo Pino Pascali, Galerie Da-End, Galerie Vachet-Delmas, Espace Martiningo, Galerie Catherine Putman. Her works are notably part of collections at Annecy Art Library, Art Collector (Evelyne and Jacques Deret), and the Rodin Museum in Paris.
Eligibility to participate: Free | No reservation required
Hours: Saturday, September 19, 2026 — 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM | Sunday, September 20, 2026 — 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM
Visit to François Laurin's Ceramic Collection
Discover the ceramic work of François Laurin (1826-1901) and his renowned "barbotine" technique, developed in his Bourg-la-Reine workshop.
A potter born in Bourg-la-Reine in 1826, Laurin was the grandson of the ceramist François Guillaume Mony, successor of Poussin at his faience works in La Madeleine, located at 39 Avenue du Général Leclerc. It was in that workshop, under his grandfather, that he relaunched artistic faience in 1856 with Émile Lessore, turning the factory into a hub for fashionable artists. There he produced faience inspired by antique models and old majolicas, as well as vases and plates painted on unfired clay and fired at high temperature.
In 1871, joined by Ernest Chaplet, they developed a new technique dubbed "barbotine" on terracotta that lets them paint on raw clay as if it were a canvas. A method that the Manufacture de Sèvres had already used to decorate porcelain, which they adapted to earthenware. The barbotine—a fluid paste they apply to bond elements of a ceramic before firing (handles, rims, etc.)—enabled them to create highly detailed, lifelike low-relief décors on ceramics with an impressionist inspiration.
Laurin would showcase this invention at numerous international exhibitions and enjoy substantial success in the final quarter of the 19th century. At the same time, he remained deeply active in his commune, serving as a municipal councilor and later as deputy mayor, from 1847 to 1896.
Participation terms: Self-guided visit - Free | No reservation required
Hours: Saturday, September 19, 2026 — 10:00 to 18:00 | Sunday, September 20, 2026 — 10:00 to 18:00
Heritage Days 2026 at Bourg-la-Reine's Protestant Church
Exploring Bourg-la-Reine's Protestant Church
On the occasion of European Heritage Days, the United Protestant Church of Bourg-la-Reine opens its doors for a guided tour of its premises, alongside an exhibition dedicated to Protestantism. Built in 1860, this place of worship has from the outset aimed to bring together Christians from diverse cultures and traditions. Founded by Lutheran, Reformed, and Anglican families from Alsace, the Pays de Montbéliard, Germany and England, the parish was first welcomed within the Lutheran Consistory of Paris. Over time, the community expanded, welcoming people from the provinces who settled in the southern suburbs, and later worshippers from other Christian traditions. In recent decades, arrivals from the Americas, Africa and Asia have further enriched this living mosaic. It is this plural history and shared heritage that we invite you to discover; all practical information can be found on our website: [[https]](https://bourglareine.epudf.org%5D).
Participation terms: Free | No reservation required
Schedule: Saturday, September 19, 2026 — 10:00–12:00, 14:00–17:00
Dates and Opening Time
From September 19, 2026 to September 20, 2026
Location
Bourg-la-Reine
92340 Bourg-la-Reine
92340 Bourg la Reine
Route planner
Accessibility info
Access
RER B Bourg-la-Reine station
Official website
www.bourg-la-reine.fr
